ROLE OF THE OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79M00467A000400020040-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 3, 2002
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: February 26, 1976
• Content Type: MF

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OLC 76-0494
26 February 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR: Director
FROM : Legislative Counsel
SUBJECT Role of the Office of Legislative Counsel
1. The restructuring and new emphasis on your responsibilities
as Director of Central Intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence
Agency in the Executive Order resulted from the compromise of diverse
views. However, it is my opinion that congressional expectations of
your role will continue to be viewed in light of the provisions of the
1947 Act and the quarter of a century experience Congress has had with
your office and that Act. Simply put, I think this boils down to:
a. National Intelligence Judgments. The
Congress views the Director of Central Intelligence
as supra-departmental, without a departmental or
policy bias, thus abling you to provide unvarnished
assessments of foreign situations.
b. Appropriations. The Appropriations
Committees, and to a lesser extent, the Armed
Services Committees, have been eager to see a
more assertive DCI in connection with intelligence
program contents and dollars, and the rationalizing
of the intelligence community budget for DOD elements.
c. Legislation. As a matter of practice, the .
DCI has spoken for the interests of the Agency and the
intelligence community on legislation of common concern.
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d. Committee Requests. The DCI has
served as focal point for coordinating responses
by intelligence community agencies to committees
of Congress, on matters of common concern.
In the past, this office has served as personal staff for previous Directors
in all four of these roles and it is recommended that this be continued for
the future.
2. From the congressional viewpoint, the most significant adjustments
in your role deals with appropriations. This, together with your
responsibility as principal spokesman to the Congress for the intelligence
community, creates a role which the Appropriations Committees in
both Houses have long been eager to see you acquire. They will
see you as the arbiter of conflicting priorities in the event of cuts
in appropriations and for assuring that conflicting budget presentations
are not made.
3. I would like to comment on your various roles with the Congress
prior to the Executive Order and under the Executive Order:
a. Substantive Intelligence. No change. The
Executive Order cannot make a change since the
responsibilities are imposed upon you by law, as head
of the Agency, to produce finished intelligence.
Congress will still look to you to "tell it like it is."
It is your bottom line judgments that will be sought.
Admittedly, there is a community-wide imput, but so
far Congress has not brooked anyone from other
departments and agencies to sit in on your executive
session briefings to "track what you are saying." I
do not see this as changing. (This does not mean,
however, that committees, particularly the Armed Services
and Appropriations Committees will no longer expect to
receive, from time to time, departmental intelligence
judgments from DOD The same will be true for the
foreign affairs committees with respect to State. )
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b. Legislation. Although more explicit
("principal spokesman"), no change. Insofar as
proposed legislation impacts upon intelligence
capabilities, procedures, and programs, it has
always been the responsibility of the Director of
Central Intelligence, the focal point in statute, for
protecting the statutory basis for the performance of
your functions.
c. Responses to Congressional Committees.
Although more explicit ("principal spokesman"), no
change. In the past, this has been essentially a
coordinating role where questions impact upon your
peculiarly based statutory responsibilities.
d. Appropriations. Significant change. It is
in this area that your responsibilities under the
Executive Order have been most enhanced as a result
of your Chairmanship of the CFI and the responsibilities
imposed upon it.. In the past, the Director of Central
Intelligence has made presentations to the Appropriations
Committees for the intelligence community budget and
the CIA budget. The Director's intelligence community
presentation has been followed by more detailed
presentation by various elements of the intelligence
community to the Appropriations Committees. This
office, in collaboration with the Comptroller for the
Agency budget, and the Intelligence Community staff
for the intelligence community budget, has worked out
a modus operandi which has and should find the
Comptroller and the IC Staff in continuous contact
with the Appropriations Committees staff in preparing
the budget submission and on follow-ups with the
Appropriations Committees. In this respect, the
Legislative Counsel serves in partnership with the
Comptroller and the IC Staff to support you in
anticipating and resolving issues as they develop.
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e. Summary.
1. As I view the Legislative Counsel's
responsibility to you, it must cover the
totality of your relationships with the Congress.
The benefits to be derived by you from having.
one focal point for congressional relations far
outweigh any appearance of managerial
improvements by fractionating it into constituent
elements representing various responsibilities
and roles under the Executive Order (e.g.,
as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign
Intelligence, as principal spokesman for
the intelligence community, as facilitating
the use of foreign intelligence products by
the Congress and in connection with appro-
priations matters) .
2. In each of your four principal
roles, this office, as personal staff to the
Director, has worked in close collaboration
with Agency offices drawing upon their
resources, e.g., legal, production, and has
coordinated with our counterparts in the
affected elements of the community, executive
agencies, the White House Legislative Inter-
departmental Group, and other staff offices
to the President, such as OMB. Procedures
for such coordination already exists through
OMB directives and years of experience.
3. The enhancement of your coordin-
ation and management roles will, however,
increase the coordination role of this office
with the various legislative counsels through-
out the intelligence community. These
relationships have existed for some time but
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they may need to be somewhat more formally
institutionalized than they have been in the
past. However, it is recommended that any
such institutionalization be the outgrowth of
actual experience under the new arrangements
and not formalized at this time.
25X1A
Geor e L. Cary
Legislative Counsel
Distribution:
Original - Addressee
1; - DDCI
1-ER
L- OGC
1 - Mr. Lehman
1 - OLC Subject
OLC;/J 1(26 Feb 76)
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